VOORHEES, N.J. - Will nine straight wins be the Flyers' crowning achievement this season?
The Flyers (24-23-6, 54 points), the NHL's hottest team, host the Los Angeles Kings (22-27-4, 48 points) Thursday night, looking for a season sweep.
In their previous matchup on Nov. 1, the Flyers beat the Kings, 5-2, at Staples Center to sweep the SoCal portion of their four-game road trip.
Let's take a look at the essentials:
• When: 7 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Wells Fargo Center
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• To illustrate the imbalance between the Eastern and Western Conferences, the Kings come into their game against the Flyers last in the Western Conference with 48 points, but just six points behind Vancouver for the final playoff spot.
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In other words, the Flyers would be tied with the Canucks for the second wild-card spot out West, but instead trail the Blue Jackets in the East by seven points with 29 games remaining on their schedule.
• The Flyers have outscored their opponents 30-17 during their current eight-game winning streak, but have been outshot 296-230. The Flyers having a 13 percent shooting percentage over the past eight games, compared to just eight percent for their opponents.
Coming into tonight's game with the Kings, the Flyers have also played and won four straight one-goal games for the first time all season.
• Currently, the Kings are the only team in the NHL with a worse power play and penalty kill than the Flyers. Los Angeles comes into Philly with a PP ranked 28th in the league and a PK that's 29th.
• Backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who backstopped the Flyers during the fifth game of the current eight-game winning streak, doesn't want the run to end on his watch.
"You want to keep the streak going," Stolarz said. "All I'm going to think about out there is making that first save and controlling the rebound or swallowing the puck up. Now you can really feel the energy. You look at [Radko] Gudas, he's making big hits, [Carter Hart] making big saves. We're scoring timely goals. You can hear the fans in the stands saying, ‘Let's Go Flyers,' chants going. We really thrive off that."
• Jakub Voracek and Sean Couturier both come into this game with a four-game point streak. Voracek has six points (one goal, five assists) during that stretch, while Couturier has racked up five points (two goals, three assists).
• After missing Wednesday's practice with a maintenance day, defenseman Robert Hagg was back on the ice for an optional morning skate and is expected to play.
Kings defenseman Dion Phaneuf will be a healthy scratch against the Flyers. Former Flyers center Jeff Carter will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury.
• Flyers forward Jori Lehtera cleared waivers on Thursday and is expected to be assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
• Interim head coach Scott Gordon said Thursday morning that there's a chance goaltender Brian Elliott could see game action sometime next week. Gordon said he's mindful of not overworking Hart, who has started 10 of the Flyers' last 12 games.
• The Flyers have a pair of back-to-backs next week with Pittsburgh and Minnesota Monday and Tuesday, with a home-and-home against Detroit next weekend.
Projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Claude Giroux-Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom-Sean Couturier-Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton-Nolan Patrick-Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl- Mikhail Vorobyev-Phil Varone
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Andrew MacDonald-Shayne Gostisbehere
Robert Hagg-Radko Gudas
Goalies
Anthony Stolarz
Carter Hart
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